Cosmoscope
A living map of the solar system
Explore Mars terrain around Perseverance and Curiosity with measured elevations and HiRISE orbital imagery. Choose a surface location and see how sunlight changes the landscape.
Descend to Jezero Crater or Gale Crater, explore Olympus Mons, or choose a point on the Martian globe. The detailed landing areas combine stereo elevations with geographically aligned orbital photographs.
Jezero is the landing region of Perseverance; Gale is the landing region of Curiosity. HiRISE stereo measurements supply local elevations, while MOLA laser-altimeter measurements provide the wider planetary shape. Landing-site markers describe historical landing coordinates, not the rovers’ current positions.
The Sun direction follows the simulation date and the rotation of Mars. Terrain slopes and approximate cast shadows respond to that light. Orbital photographs retain some shadows from their acquisition dates, so the result is a terrain visualisation rather than an exact illumination prediction.
Orbital photographs stream around your position: CTX supplies approximately 5-metre pixels, with finer HiRISE imagery in surveyed regions. The local stereo elevation maps remain limited to selected landing areas; elsewhere heights are coarser. Image resolution and elevation spacing are shown separately. No invented boulders or craters fill gaps; monochrome imagery retains an illustrative Martian tint.
Source: NASA / JPL-Caltech / University of Arizona HiRISE.
Cosmoscope
A living map of the solar system
Find a world, a star, or somewhere further away.